PhagwaraThieves strike at 2 houses, steal goods worth Rs 5 lakh: Burglars took away goods worth more than Rs 5 lakh, including gold ornaments and cash, from two houses at nearby Chachoki village and the local Harkrishan Nagar locality. Reports said that burglars entered the house of villager Bhupinder Singh and decamped with eight tolas of gold ornaments, one mobile phone and Rs 1.6 lakh on Monday night. The police rounded up a migratory labourer for interrogation with the help of a dog squad. The labourer lived near the victim's house. In the second incident, a gang of thieves entered the house of school teacher Manjit Singh in the local Harkrishan Nagar and took away six tolas of gold ornaments, two wrist watches and other valuables. The police has registered cases in connection with these incidents.

Jalandhar
Amritsar coldest in region: Amritsar remained the coldest in the region today and recorded the minimum temperature of 0.6 degree Celsius followed by Adampur at 2.6 degree Celsius. Among other cities of the state, Chandigarh remained at 4.2 degree Celsius while Halwara recorded a low temperature of 4.3 degree Celsius. Pathankot and Bathinda witnessed a comparatively warm day with temperature of 5.4 and 5.6 degree Celsius, respectively. The Met Department authorities at Adampur Air Force Station have predicted fog in the morning hours and a partially cloudy sky in the next 24 hours.

HARYANA

Members of the Gramin Yuva Sena burn an effigy of former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore, convicted in the Ruchika molestation case, in Karnal on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Ravi Kumar

KURUKSHETRA
NIT convocation: President Pratibha Patil is likely to be the chief guest at the seventh annual convocation of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) scheduled to be held here in the second week of February. Stating this at a press conference held here on Monday, the chairman of the NIT Board of Governors, Prof JK Palit said the President had been invited to grace the occasion. He said Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukharjee and Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibbal would also be present on the occasion. As many as 530 graduates would be awarded the degrees at the convocation, he added.

REWARI
32 cartons of wine seized: The Bawal police on a tip off seized 32 cartons, containing 192 bottles and 768 quarter bottles of wine, from a car on the Bawal-Pranpura road here on Wednesday. However, the car driver identified as Sahib Singh of Dharchana village, near
Bawal, managed to flee, leaving behind the car. A case has been registered under the Excise Act in this
regard.

Husband, in-laws booked: The police has booked Artiís husband Ajay Kumar, father-in-law Rajender Singh and two others, all residents of Tajpur Kurd village in the Najafgarh area of Delhi on charges of dowry harassment and criminal breach of trust. A case has been registered against them on a complaint made by
Arti, daughter of Hari Singh, a resident of Ramsinghpura Colony here.
Arti, who got married to Ajay on November 25, 2007, alleged that she was persistently subjected to cruelty by her in-laws for more dowry.

2 held for dowry death: The police has arrested Anitaís husband Sumit Gupta and mother-in-law Madhu Gupta for the dowry death of of Anita, who died under mysterious circumstances in Mohalla Chhipatwara here on Monday. Sumit and Madhu were on Tuesday produced before the Duty Magistrate, who remanded Sumit in police custody for a day while Madhu was remanded in a 14-day judicial custody. Earlier, the police had registered a case of dowry death against Sumit, father-in-law Hari Gupta, mother-in-law Madhu Gupta and three others, all residents of Molalla Chhipatwara. Kamlesh, brother of the deceased, alleged that his sister was first done to death and then her body was thrown into the domestic water tank by her in-laws.

Woman sustains burn injuries: Rajwati (28), wife of Vinod Kumar of Gothra Tappa Dahina village, received severe burn injuries here on Monday. She was admitted to the Civil Hospital. Rajwati told the Judicial Magistrate that when she was cooking food, she incidentally caught fire and suffered burn injuries. She said at that time no one was at home. The doctors have referred her to Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi.

Employment under NREGA: A campaign to register aspiring male and female workers for provision of employment under the NREGA will be launched in all villages of the district from January 5. This was stated by Additional Deputy Commissioner A Mona Sriniwas here on Tuesday. She said they had decided to observe January as the NREGA month throughout the district. The ADC said job card holders would be given employment within 15 days and in case of any delay or default, they would be paid unemployment allowance.

SONEPAT
Gur seller shot dead: A gur seller identified as Sohan Veer of Sabka village was allegedly shot dead by four unidentified youths on Monday near Bega village here. The incident took place when the victim was returning home in his cart. A case has been registered on the complaint of Ellam Singh of Chhaproli, who was following the victim in his cart. It is suspected to be a case of old enmity.